Toward a density Corr\'{a}di--Hajnal theorem for degenerate hypergraphs

TL;DR

This paper investigates the maximum number of edges in large hypergraphs with limited disjoint copies of a degenerate hypergraph, revealing different extremal structures across various density intervals.

Contribution

It provides near-optimal upper bounds for degenerate hypergraphs' extremal functions in multiple density regimes, extending and complementing prior nondegenerate hypergraph results.

Findings

Different extremal structures identified across three density intervals.

Characterizations of extremal constructions within the first and second intervals.

Proof techniques applicable to certain nondegenerate hypergraphs, including those with unknown Turán densities.

Abstract

Given an $r$-graph $F$ with $r \ge 2$, let $\mathrm{ex}(n, (t+1) F)$ denote the maximum number of edges in an $n$-vertex $r$-graph with at most $t$ pairwise vertex-disjoint copies of $F$. Extending several old results and complementing prior work [J. Hou, H. Li, X. Liu, L.-T. Yuan, and Y. Zhang. A step towards a general density Corr\'{a}di--Hajnal theorem. arXiv:2302.09849, 2023.] on nondegenerate hypergraphs, we initiate a systematic study on $\mathrm{ex}(n, (t+1) F)$ for degenerate hypergraphs $F$. For a broad class of degenerate hypergraphs $F$, we present near-optimal upper bounds for $\mathrm{ex}(n, (t+1) F)$ when $n$ is sufficiently large and $t$ lies in intervals $\left[0, \frac{\varepsilon \cdot \mathrm{ex}(n,F)}{n^{r-1}}\right]$, $\left[\frac{\mathrm{ex}(n,F)}{\varepsilon n^{r-1}}, \varepsilon n \right]$, and $\left[ (1-\varepsilon)\frac{n}{v(F)}, \frac{n}{v(F)} \right]$, where $\varepsilon > 0$ is a constant depending only on $F$. Our results reveal very different structures for extremal constructions across the three intervals, and we provide characterizations of extremal constructions within the first interval. Additionally, for graphs, we offer a characterization of extremal constructions within the second interval. Our proof for the first interval also applies to a special class of nondegenerate hypergraphs, including those with undetermined Tur\'{a}n densities, partially improving a result in [J. Hou, H. Li, X. Liu, L.-T. Yuan, and Y. Zhang. A step towards a general density Corr\'{a}di--Hajnal theorem. arXiv:2302.09849, 2023.]